Right now, there are literally more Bluetooth earphones available than you can shake a stick at. One of the benefits of this abundant choice is the selection of earphones available at any and every price point. While the bottom end of the market options will evidently compromise in some respects, it is continually surprising what you can get at an extremely affordable price. Here we are taking a quick look at the J&L Real Sport Earphones. Not only do these earphones offer Bluetooth connectivity, but they also only cost $22.99.

The J&L Real Sport Wireless Earphones make use of Bluetooth 4.0 to establish a connection and are listed to be able to connect to a Bluetooth streaming device from as much as 33 feet away. The J&L Real Sport Wireless Earphones come equipped with a 70 mAh battery inside, which is rated to offer over about 3.5 hours of continuous playback (at the highest volume) and up to 175 hours of standby time. In terms of charging, the J&L Real Sport Wireless Headphones are listed as able to be recharged from empty to full in under 2 hours. These are headphones which are sweatproof and also come with a built-in microphone for taking and making hands-free calls. In terms of their physical dimensions, the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Earphones measure 33.6 x 24.3 x 28.5 mm and weigh in at 16.5 g

In The Box

At this price point, the expectation of what you will get and the presentation of the product is likely to be relatively low. As such it was nice to see just how much J&L Real do offer with these earphones. The box itself is a rather standard affair with a cardboard sleeve detailing most of the company branding while inside, you are just looking at a plain cardboard box. In terms of the contents though and besides the actual J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones, you will find a generic USB to microUSB cable, the user manual, a carry case, as well as three sets of ear tips (S, M, L) and three sets of stabilizers (S, M, L). So all in all and certainly at this price point, you do get a nice selection of accessories with the additional eartips and stabilizers being a very good added bonus.

Hardware & Design

The J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones are earphones which are first and foremost designed to be as competitively-priced as possible. As a result, the design and presentation of what is on offer with these earphones is not too dissimilar to what you will find on many other earphones within this price bracket. These are black earphones (although there is also a red trim version available as well) and generally speaking look rather unassuming. The two earbuds are connected by a flat rubber cable which does feel thick enough to ensure that the connection inside remains intact over time, while also being thin enough not to add unnecessary weight to the overall design

The actual earbud backings are plastic in nature and while this does not provide much aesthetic value, it certainly does ensure these are light earphones. In fact, considering these are Bluetooth earphones and all the tech is inside the earbud backplates, they are extremely light. The right earphone is where you will find all of the functionality including the power on/off button, as well as the volume buttons which also act as the skip forward and back buttons. The left earphone is where you will find the microUSB slot which is the point of contact for charging the earphones.

Overall, the design of the hardware does seem to sum up these earphones well. They are not necessarily the most attractive or unique-looking headphones but they are certainly ones which are designed to ensure they are highly functional, yet affordable earphones. They are largely plastic although this detracts from their weight and results in an extremely light pair of headphones. A basic but well-designed pair of earphones. For those looking for earphones which are affordable and very lightweight, these are designed exactly for those two purposes.

Sound Quality & Performance

Sound quality and reproduction will also be a concern when purchasing a pair of headphones or earphones, although at this price point the level of sound quality is somewhat forgiven when it is lacking in certain aspects. Overall, the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones produce a fairly nice and solid all-round sound and especially when considering the price. Those looking for the absolute best in class audio reproduction will be expecting to pay more and therefore, these are not for the audiophiles or those seeking a heightened listening experience. However, for those looking for a very affordable pair of earphones, the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones will certainly suffice.

The biggest issue with the sound quality of the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones lies in the mid and top regions. Definition is not as clear and the mids sound a little flat at times. Not to mention the separation of mids and tops is a little underwhelming and this results in what is much more in line with a two-way audio output with the mids and tops fusing together. So neither the tops nor the mids are pronounced with both somewhat lacking overall. Surprisingly though, the bass is fairly good on these earphones. Of course, it should be expected that we are not talking about pounding bass here or even highly defined bass. However, the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones are able to handle the bass well enough and certainly do not cause the output to sound distorted or muffled, which is a common criticism of earphones priced similar to these. Much can be said for the volume as well. A number of Bluetooth earphones do lack in the volume department and especially at the higher end. This is not the case with these earphones which offer a nice top level of volume and again, a level which increases without seeing any of the sound becoming muffled, distorted or cracking.

Overall, there is very little to complain about in terms of the performance. These are not going to be earphones designed for those looking for the best possible product and while there are compromises in the sound, they are not compromises which drastically affect the performance or the listening experience. In fact, the compromises are rather well-balanced which means that in spite of a lack of definition, the all-round sound on offer is one which will suit most consumers looking for an easy and affordable option.

Battery Life & Connectivity

Sound quality aside, battery life is always one of the red flags to look out for with Bluetooth earphones as you do need a pair that will offer a substantial enough level of off the charge usage to justify them being Bluetooth-enabled in the first place. The J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones are earphones which are designed to offer a fairly good level of battery life and J&L Real define their capabilities as being able to offer a maximum of eight hours of usage in between charges. This is further explained as up to 6.5 hours when the volume is set at 60%, up to 5 hours when the volume is at 80% and up to 3.5 hours of audio playback when the volume is at 100%. In short, if you’re someone who typically listens to content at full volume then you should not expect more than four hours of usage on a full battery. This was a sentiment which was very much in line with our testing. These earphones are certainly able to offer three hours of audio playback at full volume with ease. However, how far beyond that three hour marker is a little debatable with sometimes the headphones lasting the three and a half hours and sometimes fully depleted after three hours and ten minutes. Either way, three hours was viewed to be a solid benchmark of what you can definitively expect in terms of battery life, when used at full volume. Of course, as J&L Real note, that level can always be extended when needed by decreasing the volume. On the other side, in terms of charging, this was a relatively standard affair with the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones taking on average two hours to charge from empty to full again. Which is generally in line with what you would expect from a product like this.

Moving on to connectivity and overall these headphones offer a reasonably good level of performance in this respect. To be clear, these headphones did encounter occasional drop offs where they seemed to disconnect from the target device, although during these instances the target device was still recognizing the headphones as being connected. Therefore it was difficult to note what was causing the occasional issue as the connection remained, but occasionally the sound would drop off. It is worth pointing out that this was an occasional issue and over prolonged levels of testing and with different devices, the issue was far less prevalent. As a result, there are many aspects which could have caused this so it is an issue to keep in mind, but not one which was deemed as overly problematic or commonplace — it was just one that was noted on some devices, but not others.

Lastly, these are earphones which are listed to be able to establish a connection from as much as 10 meters away and this was generally the case. This was understood to be the upper limit of the connectivity and therefore you should not expect an ultra reliable level of connection at this distance and certainly should look to be using these earphones well within the 10 meter distance, however they were able to maintain a connection up to about 10 meters away.

Wrap Up

Overall, the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones are ones which adopt a number of traits you might not expect from a pair of earphones which cost under $30. They are Bluetooth-enabled earphones, they do offer a pretty good level of battery life, the connection is fairly solid and the sound quality is pretty good for the money. Of course, being priced at this level does mean there are some compromises and the J&L Real Wireless Bluetooth Sports Earphones are no exception. The connection was not 100-percent solid when tested, the build quality is a little basic and plain and the sound quality is not as crisp or as separated as you will find at significantly higher-priced alternatives. And there is the crux — if you are looking for a very affordable pair of earphones, then these are certainly an option worth considering. They do compromise but they also do offer all the basic qualities you will want from a pair of earphones today and are extremely competitively priced.